El Greco
By: Ellie Mullin Block 4
Biography
Died: April 6, 1614 in Toledo, Spain
El Greco seemed to live in many different places during his life. He was born in Crete, Greece, but visited places like Rome and Venice for educational and artistic purposes. He eventually decided to settle in Spain. During his education, he was said to be pupil of Titian in a letter sent to Cardinal Alessandra Farnese, asking that the young man be given lodging in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. El Greco had a very different lifestyle. He had very broad, humanistic interests and always had a taste for idealism. He also, like said before, traveled and visited many different places in his early stages of life, which exposed him to new ways of living, seeing and creating. As a result of all the inspiration growing up, El Greco developed very mature art. He was known for showing emotional expressionism and also, being a religious painter, visionary nature. He was also a master portraitist. Some of his works include: Purification of the Temple, Stigmata and Giullo Clovio. El Greco's most well known patron was Master Domenikos. Greco's art showed idealism and classicism. This is because in most of his paintings it seems as though they were influenced by the classical past, and have a lot of columns/arches that are very detailed and elegant. Also in Greco's art, it shows a sense of "perfection" and the unchanging of the material world.